After a successful campaign last year for Record Store Day, Rush is again partnering with independent retail for an exclusive 10” picture disc for Black Friday – November 29th.

The 10” includes two versions of “The Garden” – the closing track from 2012’s Clockwork Angels. Side A features the studio version from the album, while Side B includes a live version of the song with the Clockwork Angels String Ensemble taken from the upcoming live release Clockwork Angels Tour. Designed by Crankbunny (Norma V. Toraya), the 10” features artwork from her stunning animated screen projections shown during the performance of The Garden during the Clockwork Angels tour.

This special 10” will be limited and available only for this special celebration of independent music retailers.

The trade magazine PLSN, (projection, lights & staging news) has announced this years Parnelli Awards winners. David Davidian has won for
best Video Director this year for his work on the Clockwork Angels Tour. For more info visit PLSN.com. - Thanks to Greg Nosek for the headsup!

Today "La Villa Strangiato" was made available on Jammit. Jammit is a music app which allows you to play along to your favorite songs by giving you the ability to isolate instruments in the original master recording while you play along. For more info visit Jammit.com. - Thanks to Peter Ulintz for the headsup!

Hilton Head's "M Monthly" has posted an online interview with Greg Critchley, a songwriter and production engineer who has worked with many in the music industry who started out in a small town outside of Toronto.

"Greg was selected to join the house band at the Orbit Room in Toronto, where he partnered with hall of fame guitarist Alex Lifeson of Rush. The relationship led to collaborative studio projects with country music stars Clay Aiken, Keith Urban, Toby Keith, Tim McGraw, the Dixie Chicks and Jo Dee Messina. A favorite stage memory is captured in photograph in his office of him playing the drums with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson of Rush. 'You’ve got to understand that growing up in Toronto and being a kid who played drums, all I dreamed about was one day being good enough to sit in and play with Neil Peart,' Critchley said. 'I was fascinated by him as a kid.'...He shared a story of the band learning to play Rush songs, and then inviting Neil’s younger sister over to the house to watch them play. 'I don’t know if Neil ever knew that or not. If so, he never said anything and I’ve never asked him.'"

"And I remember having such a great show in Dallas that night,” says Lifeson. “We were playing a lot of our bar set — stuff we put together very quickly with Neil off the first show. We played ‘Bad Boy,’ the Beatles song. We were out with Uriah Heep, Rory Gallagher, Nazareth, relegated to a 20-minute, half-hour sets. So we would pick up these club dates where we would play for a couple of hours, and that was a really exciting night, because nobody knew who we were, and we won the crowd over that night. The place was just roaring by the end of it, and we all just thought, ‘Texas is awesome!’”

Kevin J. Anderson announced today that BOOM! Studios will be releasing a graphic novel version of his book Clockwork Angels: The Novel over six issues next spring. To be scripted by Anderson, the first issue is tentatively scheduled to be published next April, 2014. Neil Peart, along with Anderson, have approved an as of yet unnamed artist suggested by BOOM! Like the original novel, the graphic novel will include various references to Rush lyrics from the back catalog.

On, June 1, 1975, when touring in support of Fly By Night, Rush opened for The Tubes and KISS at The Winterland in San Francisco, California. As told by Gene Simmons in a Q&A on the recent KISS Kruise held three weeks ago, it was a memorable night for Gene who explains how when they arrived hungry at the venue, the promoter, Bill Graham, refused to provide food and refreshments for Rush, while he HAD been provided for KISS and "the Tubes had a big spread", a band which was also managed by Graham. KISS stepped in and Simmons told the promoter, "You're going to feed these guys or we're not getting up on stage." You can see the discussion here. - Thanks to RushIsABand for the headsup!

According to DirectTV's online schedule, the Clockwork Angels Tour video will make its television premiere at 9 P.M. Sunday, December 1st, on both VH1 Classic and in HD on Palladia. The schedule shows a run time of 2:30, so it is likely not the full show. - Thanks to Ed @ RushIsABand for the headsup!

Billboard.com has just posted a new interview with Alex Lifeson in advance of tomorrow's live release, Clockwork Angels Tour. Alex reiterates that the band are taking the next year off, but does acknowledge:

"We committed to a year, so that's going to take us through to the end of next summer, for sure. That's the minimum. We haven't stopped or quit. Right now we're just relaxing. We're taking it easy and just enjoying our current employment...typically get a little bored, and so we enjoy writing and working together and I wouldn't doubt that some time in the new year we'll probably gravitate towards each other and start doing some writing. It's going to be interesting to see where we do go next. You know, the album is dying as a format. We're so used to it and we're so old school in that format, but will we get more mileage by doing a few new songs at a time, or do we do another album? It's hard to say what the future holds, and it's just changing so rapidly. It's always hard to speculate where you're going to go."

On next years' Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Alex says:

"I put my votes in...Certainly with Deep Purple and Yes and Nirvana, I think they're all candidates, and I think Kiss deserves to be in there, too. We have lots of great memories of working together with them, and I think they've been influential and worked for a very long time and worked very hard. I think for all the indifference we had before, actually going through it and feeling the love in the room and the sense of community we felt with all the other musicians that are in there, it's a good thing provided it's inclusive and it's broad."

Check out this 3rd grade language studies test recently administered by teacher Robert Baker at Leonard Lawrence Elementary School in Omaha, Nebraska! Mr. Baker is one dedicated fan; it even includes a dig aimed at Steve Lillywhite who reneged on his agreement to produce Grace Under Pressure! - Thanks to Mark Rosenthal for sending this in!

"Anyone who doesn't know Rush is Canadian can probably figure it out about four seconds into their 1981 video for "Limelight." It begins with a wolf running in front of a hopelessly remote house, practically lost in a mountain of snow. There don't appear to be any neighbors around for at least one hundred miles and inside, the Canadian trio is playing in front of a large window that looks out into the vast Canadian wilderness.

"Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson grew up near Toronto and they cut their teeth on the local club circuit. They live there to this day, though drummer Neil Peart now spends much of his time in Los Angeles with his wife and young daughter" - RollingStone.com, November 13, 2013

Radio.com has a six-song preview of the live release, which started at noon EST today, November 14 and will run for 24 hours. You can watch an exclusive stream of “Grand Designs,” “Middletown Dreams,” “Territories,” “The Body Electric,” “Red Sector A” and “The Wreckers,” shot during Rush’s 2012-2013 tour supporting Clockwork Angels, their 19th studio album. Then, starting at noon EST on Friday, November 15, we’ll have “Middletown Dreams” and “Red Sector A” available on-demand, plus an exclusive interview with Geddy Lee from our Radio.com studios. Check it out here, or in the window below! - Thanks to Alan Klivan for the headsup!

Nights with Alice Cooper is giving away a custom Rush Marshall Fridge which includes the new Clockwork Angels Tour CD and DVD, a copy of Vapor Trails Remixed, as well as a Rush merchandise package including a set of Rush bobbleheads, and more. The contest runs through November 20th; click here to enter!

In related news, Joe has released a new book called Arrival Drum Play-Along, which features Zak Rizvi and Frank LaPlaca from 4Front. In addition, Neil wrote the foreword for a new Gavin Harrison drum book that Hudson Music will be publishing in January 2014. Neil wrote the forward while at home after the tour had ended. The book is a series of drum transcriptions of Gavin’s performances with Porcupine Tree, with accompanying text from Gavin himself. - Thanks to Joe Bergamini for the headsup!

Neil Peart has just updated his website with the latest edition of News, Weather & Sports titled "Angels Landing". Neil confirms that Rush have agreed not to talk about working on any new projects for a year, as well as the government shutdown, all wrapped in a trip in his new Aston Martin Vanquish where he visits Zion, Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon National Parks, as well as stopping for a photo at Roy's Motel (which is seen in the distance on the Snakes & Arrows Live cover) on Route 66. Check it out here!

Update November 8th, as a followup to the video they first posted last month which we shared below, today VH1.com has posted more of their video interview with Geddy Lee. Check it out here or in the embedded video below.

Posted October 17th: In a new video interview with VH1.com, Geddy talks about the history of Rush's live albums, and why they now release a new DVD of each tour. The VH1 page also includes an extended transcript of material not covered in the video clip.

"Live albums are very important for Rush and they became sort of a closing chapter for us. And the way things used to work was we would do three or four studio albums and then we would do a live album and in that way kind of make it a historical document as to where the band was at in that period of time. We never expected that we would just keep going, you know, the lifespan of a band is unpredictable, and so it appeared for quite a while that every four records would be followed up with a live record and it’s a way for us to look back at that last period and see how our sound has changed and take a different approach to recording live every time. But now the record industry has changed so much and DVDs have become such a fantastic souvenir of any one tour. And because it takes so much effort to design and put on one of our tours we feel it’s appropriate to record every new tour that we do, that has a new stage show, and a DVD seems to be the perfect outlet for that. It’s great for us as a historical document and it’s great for our fans as a souvenir of that tour that they came to." - Geddy Lee, VH1.com, October 17, 2013

As previously announced, continuing the tradition that began with Rush In Rio, the upcoming live movie Clockwork Angels Tour will appear in theaters one night only on November 18th. Check for showings near you at Fandango.com.

Today the USA Today stated:

Rush is bringing a film version of its extensive Clockwork Angels Tour to more than 350 movie theaters on Nov. 18.

Rush has passed along a sample of a "Family Goy" parody from the upcoming Clockwork Angels Tour video which is set for release on November 19th. The live concert, filmed in Dallas last year, is available for preorder here. Check out the video below.

Canadian musician Jacob Moon [who Rush fans will forever remember for his cover of Subdivisions released on The Loop, as well as his live roof top performance], has completed his latest album, Fascination. The album can be ordered via Kapipal.

Two weeks ago, during the October 25th season premiere of The Carrie Diaries, at the 18:04 mark Carrie comments how her friends are at a bar without out her that is "the place for rock and roll". A series of 70s/80s rock bands are shown, including this photo of Rush featuring the doublenecks! You can see the full episode here at CWTV.com. - Thanks to Greg Nosek for the headsup and John Patuto for the screen capture!

Alex Lifeson's self-portrait has sold for $7,600 in the 2013 "A Brush Of Hope" celebrity auction benefiting Canada's Kidney Foundation. This is Alex's sixth contribution to A Brush Of Hope over the last seven years, and his paintings have raised thousands for the cause.

The massive online auction kicked off October 24th and will ran through November 3rd at www.ebay.ca; Alex's auction is here. The proceeds of the auction benefit those suffering with kidney disease. Click here for more information; visit their Facebook page.

Support Us

Keeping this site up to date and interesting takes a great deal of time more than anything (parts of this site are updated on a near-daily basis), but your donations help cover the occasional out of pocket costs needed to keep it all up to date and constantly evolving. Thanks in advance for your help!